Stan Moody moved a huge step closer to winning a first ranking title as he beat all-time great John Higgins 4-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the British Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rising star Moody, age 19, has equalled his best run in a ranking event, as he also reached the last eight in Cheltenham a year ago. This time he faces Liam Highfield on Friday afternoon with the chance to earn a first semi-final berth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Four-time World Champion Higgins was far from his best tonight and Moody took advantage, notably with a superb 69 clearance to win the last frame from 61-0 down. “It was quite a scrappy game but in the last frame I thought I might get one more chance and when it came I took it,” said Moody. “I really like the venue here. I\u2019m practising harder and cueing well. I know that I can take my practice game to the match table, which I\u2019m doing more.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jack Lisowski continued to build hopes of victory on home turf as he beat Lyu Haotian 4-1 with top breaks of 92, 59 and 66. Lisowski lives in Churchdown just a few miles away from Cheltenham and is just three wins away from doubling his tally of ranking titles having landed his first at the 2025 Northern Ireland Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The balls were running in my favour today,” said the 35-year-old left-hander, who now meets Mark Selby. “He just seemed to keep letting me in, so I managed to take my chances and keep my concentration. It was nice to win without having to survive another decider. I\u2019ve had a really good week in practice leading up to this and I\u2019m hitting the ball well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I feel like my game\u2019s back now and I\u2019ve got to take advantage of it, strike while the iron\u2019s hot, because it\u2019s a very difficult game. Players like me are a bit streaky, so I really need to capitalise when I\u2019m on it. It\u2019s fantastic that it\u2019s 15 minutes away from where I live, but it\u2019s just another tournament, I\u2019m taking it as seriously as possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China Open champion Selby reached his 112th ranking quarter-final with a 4-2 win over Iulian Boiko, making breaks of 67, 53, 65 and 63.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lisowski is hosting Judd Trump at his house this week and so far the draw has kept them apart. Trump raced to a 4-0 win over David Gilbert with top breaks of 118 and 105 and he now meets the player who has just taken over from him as world number one – Zhao Xintong. The Chinese ace beat Mark Joyce 4-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Championship League winner Jak Jones continued his fine start to the season as he beat Artemijs Zizins 4-2 with a top break of 130. Jones, whose wife Inna is due to give birth to their second son next week, now meets Aaron Hill. Ireland’s 24-year-old Hill, another player seeking a first ranking semi-final, saw off Fan Zhengyi 4-0 with a top run of 110.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Liam Highfield produced the best performance of Thursday evening’s session as he beat Long Zehuang 4-1 with breaks of 86, 104, 78 and 102. Highfield is into his third ranking quarter-final and hopes to progress to a first semi. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stan Moody moved a huge step closer to winning a first ranking title as he beat all-time great<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[378],"class_list":["post-15408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-snooker"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t